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Emerald Article: Decomposition of cross-country differences in consumer
attitudes toward marketing
Geng Cui, Hon-Kwong Lui, Tsang-Sing Chan, Annamma Joy
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To cite this document: Geng Cui, Hon-Kwong Lui, Tsang-Sing Chan, Annamma Joy, (2012),"Decomposition of cross-country differences
in consumer attitudes toward marketing", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 29 Iss: 3 pp. 214 - 224
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Decomposition of cross-country differences in
consumer attitudes toward marketing
Geng Cui, Hon-Kwong Lui and Tsang-Sing Chan
Department of Marketing and International Business, Lingnan University, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong, and
Annamma Joy
Faculty of Management, University of British Columbia at Okanagan, Kelowna, Canada
Abstract
Purpose – Previous studies have found significant differences in consumer attitudes toward marketing between countries and attributed such
variations to differences in the stage of consumerism development and cultural values. This study aims to test these competing hypotheses using
econometric decomposition to identify the source of such cross-country variations.
Design/methodology/approach – Using survey data of consumer attitudes toward marketing from China and Canada, this study adopts econometric
decomposition to examine the cross-country difference in consumer attitudes toward marketing.
Findings – The results show that Chinese consumers have more positive attitudes toward marketing than Canadians and the two countries differ
significantly across all predictor variables. However, the results of decomposition suggest that consumerism, individualism and relativism do not have
any significant effect on the country gap in consumer attitudes toward marketing, while idealism has a significant coefficient effect.
Research limitations/implications – The study finds different effects of cultural values on consumer attitudes across countries and has meaningful
implications for international marketing strategies.
Originality/value – The study investigates the sources of cross-national differences in consumer attitudes toward marketing using rigorous analyses
to improve the accuracy of cultural attribution for international marketing and cross-cultural consumer research.
Keywords Consumer attitudes toward marketing, Decomposition, Cross-cultural consumer research, International marketing,
Marketing strategy Cross cultural studies, Attitudes, China, Canada
Paper type Research paper
(Cui et al., 2008; Wee and Chan, 1989). However, simple
comparisons of country differences in consumer attitudes and
cultural values do not lend an opportunity to draw firm
conclusions about the sources of such variations. Rigorous
analyses are needed to ascertain whether the attitudinal
differences across countries can be attributed to their
differences in cultural values, and/or the different effects of
such values on consumer attitudes in respective countries.
These are important but different questions for improving our
understanding of cross-cultural differences in consumer
attitudes and behaviors and for informing international
marketing strategies.
To identify the sources of cross-national differences in
CATM, we adopt an econometric decomposition approach to
determine how differences in cultural values and/or the
different effects of cultural values explain cross-national
difference in consumer attitudes. First, we provide a succinct
review of the literature on consumer attitudes toward
marketing and cultural attribution in international
marketing and cross-cultural research. Second, we elaborate
the econometric decomposition approach and its advantages
for cross-cultural research and describe the competing
hypotheses based on previous studies. Third, using the
survey data of consumer attitudes toward marketing from
China and Canada, we perform the decomposition of the
cross-national difference between the two countries to
An executive summary for managers and executive
readers can be found at the end of this article.
Introduction
Consumer attitudes toward marketing (CATM) have
significant implications for public policy and management
strategies (Gaski, 2008; Gaski and Etzel, 2005). Likewise,
cross-cultural differences in CATM affect multinational
corporations (MNCs), for instance, standardizing or
customizing their international marketing strategies when
they expand in markets that are at a different stage of
economic and consumerism development (Cui et al., 2008).
Up to date, researchers have found significant differences
across countries in people’s attitudes toward marketing. Early
research suggests that consumers in advanced economies tend
to have less negative attitudes toward marketing than their
counterparts in less developed countries (Barksdale et al.,
1982; Varadarajan and Thirunarayana (1990). Recent studies
have found the opposite and attributed the variations in
attitudes toward marketing between countries to their
differences in consumerism development and cultural values
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0736-3761.htm
Journal of Consumer Marketing
29/3 (2012) 214– 224
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0736-3761]
[DOI 10.1108/07363761211221747]
The authors acknowledge the financial support of Lingnan University,
Hong Kong.
214
Differences in consumer attitudes toward marketing
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Geng Cui, Hon-Kwong Lui, Tsang-Sing Chan and Annamma Joy
Volume 29 · Number 3 · 2012 · 214 –224
determine whether they are due to differences in the
competing predictor variables or their different effects on
consumer attitudes across countries. The results suggest that
although that the two countries differ significantly in the
dependent variables and all the predictor variables,
decomposition analysis of country differences reveals that
consumerism, individualism and relativism do not have any
significant effect on the country difference in consumer
attitudes, while only idealism has a significant coefficient
effect. These findings suggest that cross-country differences in
CATM are more complicated than previously anticipated,
and that researchers should examine both the cultural value
differences and the different effects of cultural values before
attributing the observed country variations to these factors.
The decomposition approach can serve as a powerful tool for
cross-cultural analysis and international marketing research.
for consumer movement and greater government regulation.
Thus, their findings lend some support to the lifecycle
concept of consumerism development.
However, the findings using the same measurement scales
in other countries have not been consistent. In a study of
Hong Kong, which was also at an early stage of consumerism
development, Wee and Chan (1989) found that Hong Kong
consumers were more positive about marketing than
consumers in the US and Australia studies (Chan et al.
1990; Gaski and Etzel, 1986). This was apparently not in line
with the hypothesis of consumerism development lifecycle.
They offered two possible explanations for the finding: either
Hong Kong marketers were doing a better job in satisfying
consumers, or the US consumers were more skeptical about
marketing. Similarly, Chan and Cui (2004) found that
consumers in the Chinese mainland, where protection of
consumer rights and the consumerism movement were at the
nascent stage of development, were more satisfied with
marketing than those in western societies. In fact, the ICSM
scores of the mainland Chinese consumers were closer to that
of their counterparts in Hong Kong (Wee and Chan, 1989).
Ferdous and Towfique (2008) report similar findings from
Bangladesh.
In a simultaneous study of China and Canada, Cui et al.
(2008) find that contrary to the concept of consumerism
development lifecycle, Chinese consumers report weaker
consumerism sentiment than their Canadian counterparts.
Although Chinese consumers indicate a higher frequency of
problems with marketing, they report more positive attitudes
toward marketing and a higher level of satisfaction than
Canadians. Meanwhile, they are less likely to engage in
complaining or negative word-of-mouth than the Canadians
and more likely to support government regulations and public
resolution such as complaining to the media. While
consumerism and individualism have significant negative
correlations with consumer attitudes toward marketing for the
Canadians, they are not significant in the Chinese sample.
Thus, Cui et al. (2008) suggest that the cross-cultural
variations in consumer attitudes may reflect the differences in
cultural values (i.e. individualism) and the role of government
institutions between the two countries. Thus, the
relationships between CATM and socio-cultural factors may
not be similar across countries.
Thus, the recent findings cast doubt on the proposition that
consumer attitudes toward marketing are positively related to
the stage of consumerism development. Instead, researchers
posit that cultural values may affect consumer attitudes
toward marketing (Chan et al., 1990; Cui et al., 2008).
Consumers in the US and Canada tend to be more
individualistic and hence more likely to express their
dissatisfaction with the marketing institution, while people
from collectivist societies such as Hong Kong and mainland
China place greater emphasis on harmonious relationships
and tend to be less critical of marketing. Other researchers
have attributed the observed cross-national differences in
consumer attitudes toward marketing to their differences in
ethical ideologies such as idealism and relativism idealism and
relativism (Al-Khatib et al., 1997). Thus, the findings on the
consumer attitudes toward marketing across countries have
been inconclusive, and the effects of socio-cultural values on
the cross-national differences in CATM have yet to be
investigated thoroughly.
Research background
How consumers perceive marketing and how such
perceptions affect consumers’ experiences in the
marketplace have been a major subject of investigators
among researchers and practitioners for decades. Barksdale
and Darden (1972) found that consumer attitudes toward
marketing practices in the US were rather negative. Gaski and
Etzel (1986) adapted the Barksdale scale to develop the index
of consumer sentiment toward marketing (ICSM), which was
adopted in many subsequent studies. Fornell et al. (1996)
later extended the Barksdale scale to the American Customer
Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which has since been widely
adapted by researchers in many other countries. In an article
on the ICSM over three decades, Gaski and Etzel (2005) have
found that consumer attitudes toward marketing in the US
show a pattern of slight improvement over time, and these
changes are consistent with the indicators of economic
development of the country including the consumer price
index (CPI) and savings rate.
Consumer attitudes toward marketing across countries
Meanwhile, researchers have found differences in CATM
across countries with significant implications for MNCs. One
key area of interest is the relationship between the level of
consumerism development and consumer attitudes toward
marketing. In this case, consumerism denotes the advocacy of
consumers’ rights and protection of their interests rather than
the promotion of consumption. Straver (1977) proposed a
model of consumerism development lifecycle in that
consumers in the countries of advanced development in
consumerism tended to be more satisfied with the status quo
and were less likely to demand additional government
regulation than consumers from countries at an early stage
of consumerism development. Barksdale et al. (1982) placed
six countries including Australia, Canada, Israel, Norway, the
UK, and the US on a lifecycle of consumerism development
from crusading, popular movement, organizational to
bureaucracy stages. Despite the different levels of
consumerism development, they found that consumers from
these countries had rather similar attitudes toward marketing,
thus suggesting a weak relationship between the two. In a
study of India as a developing country at the crusading stage
of consumerism lifecycle, Varadarajan and Thirunarayana
(1990) uncovered a high level of discontent with marketing
practices, a high level of consumerism sentiment, and support
215
Differences in consumer attitudes toward marketing
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Geng Cui, Hon-Kwong Lui, Tsang-Sing Chan and Annamma Joy
Volume 29 · Number 3 · 2012 · 214 –224
Attribution of cross-cultural variations
Update to date, researchers have found significant differences
in CATM across countries, and in the presence of consistent
findings, they proposed various predictor variables as
alternative explanations (Barksdale et al., 1982; Chan et al.,
1990; Chan and Cui, 2004). These studies, however, were
mostly single-country studies, and researchers merely
compared their findings with those from other countries.
Simple comparisons of country differences do not allow any
firm conclusions about the sources of cross-country variations
in CATM. The results of the only recent two-country study
were merely correlational (Cui et al., 2008). The competing
hypotheses about the effects of consumerism sentiment and/
or the cultural values on CATM in different societies have yet
to be tested with empirical data and rigorous analyses.
The precise effects of cultural values on attitudinal
differences across countries often elude researchers. This
problem has arisen partially from the inadequate research
designs and analytical procedures (Sin et al., 1999). First, in
many cases, the specific cultural values are not measured
across countries, but are assumed to explain the behavioral
differences using country dummy variables (Lenartowicz and
Roth, 1999). However, country is a proxy, albeit imperfect,
for representing a culture. Confounding nationality with
culture has received numerous criticisms (Kelley et al., 1987;
Kirkman et al., 2006). Second, many studies fail to control for
other competing beliefs and values and important contextual
variables, which may weaken the effect of the cultural value in
question (Weber and Hsee, 1999; Kirkman et al., 2006).
Third, by relying on the establish indices of cultural
differences, researchers often perform t-tests or analysis of
variance (ANOVA) to compare country means (Peng et al.,
1991). With a country dummy and/or its interaction with the
cultural value in question in a pooled sample of countries, the
underlying assumption is that the explanatory variables have
similar effects on the dependent variable across countries.
This assumption has a great potential for bias when in reality
the effects of these variables are dissimilar among countries.
Such analyses without examining the effects of cultural values
in each country are not sufficient for inferring the effect of
cultural values on behavioral differences across nations.
Therefore, it is not clear whether the observed cross-country
differences in consumers are due to the differences in cultural
values or the different effects of consumer values across
countries. Researchers need more precise analyses and
rigorous tests to account for observed attitudinal or
behavioral differences between countries before they can
turn to cultural differences as the basis for formulating
international marketing strategies.
attitude and cultural values, e.g. individualism/collectivism,
between two countries, one may attribute the observed
differences in consumer attitude to the differences in cultural
values. We may refer to this as “the cultural difference
hypothesis.” This is an implicit hypothesis in most crosscultural studies. Second, given these differences, one may also
infer that the effects of the cultural values on attitudes and/or
behaviors may be different across countries and consequently
lead to the observed difference in the dependent variable.
This amounts to the “the cultural effect hypothesis,” which is
a very different question seldom tested in cross-cultural
research nonetheless an extremely important issue for cultural
attribution. In order to assess this particular effect,
researchers need to compare the parameter estimates of the
cultural values or the “slopes” of the parameters in different
societies (Sekaran, 1983).
To attribute the observed cross-country differences in
consumer attitudes toward marketing to cultural differences,
we propose an econometric decomposition approach that can
reveal the extent to which the observed differences in attitudes
between countries can be explained by 1) the differences in
cultural values, and/or 2) the different effects of cultural
values. This method does not require a large sample of
countries and is suitable for most cross-cultural studies that
typically involve two or a few countries. However, it can
render detailed decompositions of the effects of cultural
differences as well as the different effects of cultural values on
the observed differences in consumer attitudes between
countries. In the following sections, we describe a twocountry study, articulate the advantages of decomposition
approach in assessing the effects of cultural values across
countries.
A two-country problem
Assuming that we have the data from two countries that differ
significantly in the dependent variable, the starting point of
the econometric decomposition is to have separate equations
for each country. We estimate the model for each of the two
countries using two separate regressions. Comparisons of
three or more countries are simply analogous using multiple
equations:
Y e ¼ a1 þ b*1 x1 þ c*1 x2 þ u forcountryEast
ð1Þ
Y w ¼ a2 þ b*2 x1 þ c*2 x2 þ u forcountryWest
ð2Þ
where Y denotes the dependent variable (i.e. consumer
attitudes toward marketing), and the x variables refer to
independent variables (i.e. consumerism sentiment and
cultural values).
To test the two above types of hypotheses, we adopt the
econometric decomposition approach to decompose the
differences between two countries in details. The
econometric decomposition technique has been used to
study outcome differences between groups, such as gender
gaps in pay, and has been widely adopted in economics and
increasingly so in education, sociology, and management.
While several methods of decomposition analysis are
available, one popular approach is the technique introduced
by Blinder (1973) and Oaxaca (1973), which has proven
especially useful for identifying and quantifying the separate
contributions from measurable characteristics to group
differences. The difference between the two groups can be
A decomposition approach
One of the most important and challenging questions in
international marketing and cross-cultural research is – what
causes the differences in consumer attitudes and behaviors
across countries? When one proposes that people from
different countries think differently because of cultural
differences, one assumes two differences: one in people’s
attitudes, and the other in cultural values, and believes that
these two differences are somewhat related or cultural
differences are the causes of perceptual and behavioral
differences. In this case, a researcher makes two inferences.
First, assuming that one may find significant differences in
216
Differences in consumer attitudes toward marketing
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Geng Cui, Hon-Kwong Lui, Tsang-Sing Chan and Annamma Joy
Volume 29 · Number 3 · 2012 · 214 –224
decomposed into differences in the group means of the
predictor variables, and group differences in the effects (i.e.
coefficients) of these predictors. This technique requires the
sample means of the independent variables and coefficient
estimates from linear regressions from both groups.
Given the two country equations (1 and 2), the gap
decomposition between east (e.g. China) and west (e.g.
Canada) can be performed by the following equation:
west), the parameter estimates can be different due to the
identification problem with the model (Yun, 2005). The
invariance issue leads to problems with interpreting the
coefficients and intercept terms. Similar problems apply to
cross-cultural research, as researchers often arbitrarily choose
one country as the reference group. To overcome the problem
of invariance, we adopt the averaging approach with
normalized regressions proposed by Lui and Suen (1998)
and Yun (2005). The country gap can be decomposed using
the standard decomposition method by averaging the
parameter estimates for the endowment effects and
coefficient effects from the two groups using the following
formula to replace those in the equation (3):
be þ bw w Þ þ ðbe 2 bw Þ x e þ x w
ðX e 2 X
ð4Þ
2
2
1w Þþ ce ðX
2w Þðendowment effectsÞ
1e 2X
2e 2X
Y e 2Y w ¼ be ðX
þðbe 2 bw ÞX1w þ ðce 2 cw ÞX2w ðcoefficient effectsÞ
ð3Þ
þðae 2 aw Þ ðunexplained=shift effectÞ
where the first line shows the effects of the difference in
country means of predictor variables, i.e. the endowment
effects, while the second line reflects the effects of cultural
values, that is, the coefficient effects, in addition to the shift
coefficient (ae 2 aw).
As shown in equation (3), the endowment effects measure
part of the country gap due to differences in the “average”
characteristics or country means of the independent variables
e 2X
w Þ. To explain this
between the two countries: be ðX
concept, we can consider the following scenario. Suppose that
we treat individualism as a cultural value and west and east as
two countries and are interested in whether the difference in
CATM between east and west can be explained by their
difference in individualism. First, people from west are more
individualistic than those from east. The endowment effects
measure the extent to which the difference in the dependent
variable arises from variations in the predictor variable, e.g. the
level of individualism. The different level of individualism
between west and east can be regarded as the endowment of
each group, and this factor alone explains part of the
difference in the two groups’ tendency to complain. The
endowment effects help test “the cultural difference
hypothesis” – whether the differences in the mean
characteristics of cultural values between two countries (e.g.
one country is more individualistic than the other) are
significant in explaining their difference in consumer attitudes
toward marketing.
The coefficient effects in equation (3) measure part of the
group difference due to the different effects of the predictor
w . Thus, given the
variables in the two countries: ðbe 2 bw ÞX
level of individualism in west and east, the marginal effect of
an additional unit of increase in individualism on CATM may
vary across the two groups. Here, the coefficient effects
address the second question in cross-cultural research or “the
cultural effect hypothesis”, i.e. whether the different effects of
cultural values between countries, if any, play a significant role
in explaining the observed differences in CATM. For
instance, it is possible that individualism has a stronger
effect on the tendency to complain in one country than in the
other or individualism has a different “slope” or parameter
estimates across the two countries (Sekaran, 1983).
Competing hypotheses
In the current study, researchers have attributed crossnational differences in consumer attitudes toward marketing
to several predictor variables: the stage of consumerism
development or consumerism sentiment), or cultural values
such as individualism/collectivism, or ethical ideologies such
as idealism and relativism. The differences in consumer
attitudes and cultural values such as consumerism,
individualism, idealism and relativism between eastern and
western societies have been discussed extensively in the
existing literature (Barksdale et al., 1982; Cui et al., 2008;
Hofstede, 2001; Yau, 1988). In general, western societies
such as Canada are considered to have a higher degree of
consumerism, individualism and idealism and a lower degree
of relativism, while eastern societies like China have a lower
degree of consumerism, individualism and idealism and a
higher degree of relativism. These three groups of factors
identified by the previous studies provide the alternative
explanations about the potential causes of cross-cultural
differences in CATM. Next, we choose China to represent an
eastern society and Canada as a western country and draw the
competing hypotheses from the existing literature.
Consumerism sentiment
According to the lifecycle concept of consumerism
development (Straver, 1977), consumers in developed
economies in Europe and North America such as Canada
have more positive attitudes toward marketing but weaker
consumerism sentiment because these societies already have
strong institutions for protecting consumer rights. Consumers
are in general satisfied with the existing conditions and want
less government regulation (Barksdale et al., 1982). In less
developed economies where consumerism development is at
the early stage of the lifecycle, consumers tend to have
stronger consumerism sentiment and accordingly less positive
attitudes toward marketing (Varadarajan and Thirunarayana,
1990). Based on the lifecycle concept of consumerism
development, mainland China would be at the introductory
crusading stage, where legal infrastructure and consumer
protection policies are still underdeveloped (Ho, 2001). Thus,
given the low level of consumer protection, Chinese
consumers should have stronger consumerism sentiment
(i.e. greater endowment), which in turn leads to more
negative attitudes toward marketing (i.e. coefficient effects)
than those in a country such as Canada, where consumer
protection has become more institutionalized. Thus, the
The invariance issue and normalized regressions
However, one of the problems associated with the traditional
decomposition method is the invariance issue with respect to
the parameter estimates due to the choice of the reference
group (the index number problem), particularly when dummy
variables are used (Oaxaca and Ransom, 1999). Thus,
depending on the choice of the reference group (e.g. east or
217
Differences in consumer attitudes toward marketing
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Geng Cui, Hon-Kwong Lui, Tsang-Sing Chan and Annamma Joy
Volume 29 · Number 3 · 2012 · 214 –224
lifecycle concept of consumerism development leads to the
following hypothesis:
instead of idealism provides a plausible explanation about the
differences in consumers’ attitudes toward marketing between
China and Canada. Moreover, given the emphasis on the
value of relativism instead of idealism in the Chinese society,
the Chinese tend to avoid extreme actions and have less
negative perceptions about marketing and their Canadian
counterparts:
H1.
Consumerism sentiment has a significant endowment
effect (H1a) and coefficient effect (H1b) in explaining
the country difference in consumer attitudes toward
marketing between China and Canada.
Individualism/collectivism
Contrary to the lifecycle concept of consumerism
development, several researchers have found that consumers
in less advanced economies have more positive attitudes
toward marketing than their counterparts in advanced
economies, and they have attributed the differences to
cultural values (Chan et al., 1990; Chan and Cui, 2004).
Among the great number of cultural values, the individualism/
collectivism (I/C) value is one of the cultural dimensions that
exert the greatest influences on an individual’s perceptions in
the larger social group (Yau, 1988). Existing research has
provided ample evidence about the differences in
individualism/collectivism between western societies and
eastern cultures such as China, and such differences have
been found to influence many aspects of people’s attitudes
across cultures (Hofstede, 2001). Thus, several researchers
argue that consumer responses to evaluative questions about
marketing may be grounded in the endowment of cultural
values, such as individualism or collectivism, and cultural
differences in the I/C value provide an alternative hypothesis
about the cross-national differences in consumer attitudes
toward marketing (Chan et al., 1990; Chan and Cui, 2004).
Moreover, China represents one of the east Asian societies
that emphasize the values of collectivism and place greater
emphasis on harmonious relationships and being nonconfrontational. The collectivist values in these societies
would make consumers less likely to “voice” their opinions
about marketing (Liu and McClure, 2001). Consequently,
Chinese consumers tend to be less critical of marketing than
those in individualist societies. By comparison, consumers in
societies of individualistic traditions are more likely to express
their dissatisfaction:
H2.
H3.
H4.
Idealism has a significant endowment effect (H3a) and
coefficient effect (H3b) in explaining the country
difference in consumer attitudes toward marketing
between China and Canada.
Relativism has a significant endowment effect (H4a)
and coefficient effect (H4b) in explaining the country
difference in consumer attitudes toward marketing
between China and Canada.
Methodology
Measures of variables
To survey consumers and measure CATM in these two
countries, the index for consumer sentiment toward
marketing scale developed by Gaski and Etzel (1986) was
adopted. It has been tested in the US for over several decades
(e.g. Gaski, 2008) and has been validated in several studies
outside of the US (Chan and Cui, 2004; Ferdous and
Towfique, 2008; Varadarajan and Thirunarayana, 1990; Uray
and Menguc, 1996). The instrument measures consumer
attitudes toward each of the marketing mix variables –
product, retailing, advertising, and price, with statements
such as “the quality of most products I buy today is as good as
can be expected,” and “most advertising provides consumers
with essential information.” A five-point Likert scale is used to
measure consumer responses with a neutral point in the
middle.
Measures of other variables are adopted from previous
studies that validated the respective scales. Measurement of
consumerism uses the six statements from Varadarajan and
Thirunarayana (1990), such as “manufacturers seem to be
more sensitive to consumer complaints now than they were in
the past” and “the exploitation of consumers by business
firms deserves more attention than it receives.” To measure
individualism, we adopt the nine-item scale developed by
Hofstede (2001). Ten statements are used to measure
idealism and relativism respectively (Al-Khatib et al., 1997;
Treise et al., 1994). Idealism is measured by items such as “a
person should make certain that their actions never
intentionally harm another even to a small degree” and
“risks to another should never be tolerated, irrespective of
how small the risks might be.” Measures of relativism include
statements such as “there are no ethical principles that are so
important that they should be a part of any code of ethics”
and “what is ethical varies from one situation and society to
another.” To ensure that we have unbiased estimates of these
socio-cultural variables, we included frequency of problems
and satisfaction with marketing as control variables. They are
both measured using four items for each of the four marketing
mix variables from the original study by Gaski and Etzel
(1986). All these variables are measured on a five-point Likert
scale.
Individualism has a significant endowment effect
(H2a) and coefficient effect (H2b) in explaining the
country difference in consumer attitudes toward
marketing between China and Canada.
Idealism/relativism
Meanwhile, several studies find that consumer attitudes
toward marketing may be affected by their ethical ideologies,
such as idealism and relativism in that consumers from
societies with greater emphasis on idealism and less on
relativism tend to be more critical and more likely to complain
(Al-Khatib et al., 1997; Treise et al., 1994). Thus, idealism
and relativism can serve as strong competing hypotheses
about the effects of cultural values on consumer attitudes
toward marketing. Compared with the countries in the west,
China has followed the pragmatism teachings of Confucius
and other ancient scholars and emphasizes a balanced
worldview, seeking middle-ground, and avoiding the
extremes. The middle-of-the-road approach is often the
preferred course of action for the Chinese, especially in the
times of conflict (Yau, 1988). By comparison, consumers in
western societies exhibit a higher level of idealism and/or a
lower level of relativism. Thus, the emphasis on relativism
218
Differences in consumer attitudes toward marketing
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Geng Cui, Hon-Kwong Lui, Tsang-Sing Chan and Annamma Joy
Volume 29 · Number 3 · 2012 · 214 –224
The survey and data collection
In a developed economy such as Canada, it is rather expensive
to conduct a large-scale consumer survey. Thus, a central
location intercept survey (CLIS) was conducted in two major
metropolitan areas in Canada, Toronto and Montreal, using
the English version of the questionnaire. Research assistants
were recruited among graduate students enrolled at local
universities in the two cities. After training, they conducted a
central location intercept survey in each city at three major
shopping centers at different times of day during a 14-day
period to interview every fifth person. Finally, total 250
interviews were conducted in each city, resulting in 500
usable questionnaires from Canada.
To generate the research instrument for China, the back
translation procedure was followed with one researcher first
translating the English questionnaire into Chinese, and then
another researcher translating it back into English. The
procedure was repeated three times to ensure conceptual
correspondence of measures between the two versions of the
questionnaire. As the consumer revolution has been a largely
an urban phenomenon in China, the survey was conducted in
four major cities of China, including Beijing, Shanghai,
Guangzhou, and Chengdu. Research assistants among
graduate students at local universities were recruited and
trained to conduct personal interviews using the structured
questionnaire. Three urban districts were randomly selected
from each city. Within each district, the assistants conducted a
central location intercept survey (CLIS) at a randomly
selected shopping center at different times of day during a
ten-day period. Every fifth person was interviewed until the
200th interview was completed in each of the four cities.
Finally, total 800 usable questionnaires were collected from
China.
contrary to the concept of consumerism lifecycle, the index
score for Chinese consumers is significantly higher than that
from Canada (Table I). To corroborate this finding, we find
that the consumer satisfaction score is significantly higher for
the Chinese than for the Canadians (3.24 vs 3.04, Table II).
However, the results also suggest that the Chinese report a
significantly higher frequency of problems with marketing
activities than their Canadian counterparts (2.81 vs 2.54).
Meanwhile, Chinese consumers show significantly weaker
consumerism sentiment (4.02 vs 4.19). Again, these findings
contradict the hypothesis based on stage of consumerism
development and seem to suggest that other factors such as
cultural values may be at work here.
As expected, Chinese consumers show a significantly lower
level of individualism than Canadians (3.92 vs 4.36). The
country difference in individualism is consistent with the
index scores of the cultural dimensions by Hofstede (2001):
20 for China and 80 for Canada. In addition, Chinese
consumers have a lower level of idealism (5.37 vs 5.75), but a
higher level of relativism (4.56 vs 4.00) in comparison with
their Canadian counterparts (Table I). These findings suggest
that the country differences in all independent variables are in
the directions as anticipated. Thus, we may be tempted to
conclude that even though the Chinese experience more
problems with the marketing institution in the country, they
tend to have more positive attitudes toward marketing
because they are from a collectivist society, are less idealistic
or more relativistic. These findings, however, also highlight
the problems with simple comparisons of country differences.
At this stage, it is premature to conclude which aspects of a
society or culture are relevant in explaining the difference in
consumer attitudes. One must be very circumspect about
drawing any conclusions here.
To determine whether these predictors have different effects
for the two samples, we run a separate regression for each
country (Table II). In Table II, the intercept for the Chinese
sample is negative (2 4.778) while that for the Canadian
sample is positive (9.156). The two control variables,
i.e. frequency of problems and satisfaction, have significant
effects on CATM in the same direction and with similar effect
sizes in both countries. The effects of individualism and
relativism are not significant in either country. While
consumerism and idealism both have significant negative
effects on attitudes toward marketing for the Canadian
Results
We adopt the same procedure of item purification procedure
developed by Gaski and Etzel (1986) to construct the index of
consumer sentiment toward marketing (ICSM) for both
countries. The measures of all the variables achieve good
reliability measures with the Cronbach’s alphas mostly above
0.7, similar to those found in previous studies (Chan and Cui,
2004; Gaski and Etzel, 1986). To compare the two countries
in CATM, consumerism, cultural values, and other
covariates, we present the means of these variables and the
results of t-tests in Table I. The results suggest that the two
countries differ significantly across all the variables. First, the
overall ICSM score for China is 8.51, compared with 5.58 for
Canada, resulting in a significant country gap of 2.93. Thus,
Table II Country regressions, Chow’s test, and F-tests
Samples
Overall attitudes toward marketing
Satisfaction with marketing
Frequency of problems
Consumerism
Individualism
Idealism
Relativism
China
Canada
T-test
8.51
3.24
2.81
4.02
3.92
5.37
4.56
5.58
3.04
2.54
4.19
4.35
5.74
4.03
27.39 *
25.545 *
26.144 *
5.277 *
15.981 *
8.054 *
29.365 *
Canada
R-square
0.459
0.473
0.456
0.467
Adjusted R-square
F-value
118.25 * * * 79.09 * * *
Chow’s test
Constant
0.971 *
21.246 * *
*
*
*
Frequency of problems 22.168
22.962 * * *
Satisfaction
5.186 * * * 4.800 * * *
Consumerism
0.059
20.803 *
Individualism
20.196
20.516
20.924 * *
Idealism
0.452 *
Relativism
0.154
0.070
Table I T-tests of country differences across variables
Variable/country
China
Note: *Significant at 0.001
F-test/Chow’s test
11.75 * * *
100.93 * * *
3.730 *
0.554
2.80
0.275
14.802 * * *
0.093
Notes: *Significantat 0.05; * *significant at 0.01; * * *significant at 0.001
219
Differences in consumer attitudes toward marketing
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Geng Cui, Hon-Kwong Lui, Tsang-Sing Chan and Annamma Joy
Volume 29 · Number 3 · 2012 · 214 –224
sample (20.803 and 2 0.924), the effect of consumerism is
not significant among the Chinese, and yet idealism has a
significant positive effect for the Chinese sample (0.452). To
ascertain that the parameters are different for the two
regressions, we apply the Chow’s test of equality and obtain
an F value of 100.93 (Table II). The results suggest that the
equation structures are significantly different between the two
samples. Then, the F-tests of the parameter estimates of these
variables find that the coefficients of frequency of problems
and idealism are significantly different between the two
countries (F ¼ 3.730 and F ¼ 14.802), and these two
variables have a significantly more negative effect on
consumer attitudes for Canadians than for the Chinese.
There is no significant difference in the effects of other
variables between the two countries. Thus, the same
theoretical relationships do not hold across the two countries.
To assess whether the above differences in the mean values
and the effects of consumerism sentiment and cultural value
dimensions contribute to the difference in consumer attitudes
between the two countries, we apply decomposition approach
to test the four competing hypotheses. We first generate the
results of Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition with both China and
Canada as the reference group in the second and third
columns of Table III. It is apparent that the coefficients of
parameters are very different depending on which country is
the reference group. This problem is due to the identification
problem with the standard decomposition (Yun, 2005). Thus,
we generate the results of decomposition using the averaging
method via normalized regressions and China as the reference
group, which are in the fourth column of Table III (Lui and
Suen, 1998). Out of the 2.927 gap between the two groups,
0.66 or 22.5 percent of the country difference in consumer
attitudes is explained by the endowment effects. The results
indicate that the endowment effects of the two covariates,
frequency of problems (21.389) and satisfaction (0.992), are
significant contributors to this country gap in consumer
attitudes toward marketing. The endowment effects of other
variables, including consumerism, individualism, idealism and
relativism are not significant. Thus, H1a, H2a, H3a and H4a
are not supported by the results. Thus, despite the significant
differences in the mean values of consumerism sentiment and
other cultural values between the two countries, these
differences do not contribute significantly to the country
difference in consumer attitudes toward marketing.
By comparison, the coefficient effects explain a greater
portion of the difference in consumer attitudes between the two
samples (2.267 or 77.5 percent), suggesting that the differences
in the effects of some explanatory variables between the two
countries play a significant role in explaining the country
difference in the dependent variable. Specifically, the coefficient
effects equation have a constant of 25.859 for the Chinese,
which is much lower than that use Canadians as the reference
group (Table III). Among all the variables, only idealism has a
significant coefficient effect (3.849), lending support to H3b.
Other competing variables, i.e. consumerism sentiment,
individualism, relativism as well as the two covariates, have no
significant coefficient effects. H1b, H2b, and H4b are not
supported. Thus, the results of the decomposition analyses
using the averaging method suggest that only the different
effects of idealism help to explain the gap between the two
countries in consumer attitudes toward marketing.
Discussion
Findings and implications
Based on the comparisons of country means of the variables
using t-tests, the results indicate that the two countries differ
significantly in consumer attitudes toward marketing and the
mean values of the socio-cultural factors. Based on separate
regressions, consumerism sentiment and idealism have
Table III Decompositions of the country gap
Methods/variables
China as reference
Canada as reference
Average
Grand total
2 2.927 * * *
2.927 * * *
2.927 * * *
Endowment effects
Frequency of problem
Satisfaction
Consumerism
Individualism
Idealism
Relativism
Total
0.587 * * *
2 1.030 * * *
0.010
2 0.084
0.166 *
2 0.081
2 0.432
20.802 * * *
0.953 * * *
0.139
0.221
0.340 * *
0.037
0.888 *
2 1.389 * * *
0.992 * * *
0.064
0.153
0.087
0.059
0.660
Coefficient effects
Frequency of problem
Satisfaction
Consumerism
Individualism
Idealism
Relativism
Country (intercept)
Total
Shift coefficient
2 0.084
2 0.030
0.058
0.053
0.197 * *
2 0.017
2 2.217 * * *
2 2.039 * * *
2 0.456
2.016
1.173
3.612
1.393
7.895 * * *
0.340
213.934 * * *
2.495 * * *
20.456
1.050
0.601
1.777
0.670
3.849 * *
0.179
2 5.859 * * *
2.267 * * *
0.0
Notes: *Significant at 0.05; * *significant at 0.01; * * *significant at 0.001
220
Differences in consumer attitudes toward marketing
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Geng Cui, Hon-Kwong Lui, Tsang-Sing Chan and Annamma Joy
Volume 29 · Number 3 · 2012 · 214 –224
significant negative effects on consumer attitudes among the
Canadians, while the effect of consumerism is not significant
for the Chinese, and yet idealism has a positive effect on
consumer attitudes of Chinese consumers. Thus, the same
cultural value may not have similar effect across countries.
However, the results of decomposition suggest that the
consumerism sentiment and cultural values do not have any
significant endowment effects. Therefore, differences in the
cultural values between the two countries cannot explain their
difference in consumer attitudes. Too often observed country
differences in the dependent variable are attributed to cultural
differences without rigorous empirical validation. These
findings serve as an important reminder that country
differences in cultural values alone, however viable they
seem to be, may not play a role in explaining the difference in
the dependent variable between countries.
Furthermore, the results of decomposition indicate that
only idealism has a significant coefficient effect on the country
difference in CATM. Therefore, only the effect of idealism,
which differs across the two countries, plays a meaningful role
in explaining the difference between Canada and China in
CATM. This is not surprising given that idealism have
significant effects on CATM in both countries but in opposite
directions. This could be due to the different interpretation of
idealism by the Chinese, the reminiscence of the Communist
legacy, and the result of long-term indoctrination that has
resulted in reluctance to be critical of problematic marketing
practices and thus has distorted the relationship between
idealism and ethical evaluation. Apparently, this finding needs
plausible explanations and further investigation. Overall, the
results of decomposition using the averaging method help to
uncover which socio-cultural variable(s) and to what extent
explain the country gap in CATM.
Findings of the study reveal that attributing observed crosscountry variations to differences in cultural values is rather
complex. Although the study finds significant differences
across the two countries in the mean values of consumerism
and cultural values, not all variables have a significant effect
on the country difference in CATM. When the competing
hypotheses are tested simultaneously using the decomposition
approach, some of the usual suspects such as consumerism
sentiment and individualism/collectivism turn out to be
insignificant. Thus, observing significant differences between
countries in the dependent variable and socio-cultural
variables is hardly a sufficient condition for “cultural
attribution.” It is critical that researchers also test the
competing propositions simultaneously and estimate the
effects of these variables in the respective societies, which
may be different across countries and account for the
observed difference in the dependent variables. The detailed
decompositions of the country difference provide a strong test
and stylized results for the alternative hypotheses about the
effects of cultural differences as well as the different effects of
cultural values in explaining the country difference. They help
pinpoint the sources of cross-national variations in consumer
attitudes and answer the critical questions about the role of
cultural differences in cross-cultural consumer research.
According to Hofstede (2001), culture is more often a
source of conflict than of synergy, and cultural differences are
a nuisance at best and often a disaster. Given the importance
of cultural differences in international business, researchers
should be vigilant about how one interprets cross-cultural
differences in consumer attitudes and behaviors. In the age of
intense global competition, there is great pressure for MNCs
to standardize their international marketing strategies.
Despite the increasing globalization, the world is far from
being flat and few firms can span the world without running
into the spikes and blocs, often seen in cultural differences
between countries (Rugman, 2008). Whether the observed
differences in behaviors and attitudes among people across
countries can be attributed to differences in the cultural
values under investigation is a non-trivial question. The Type
I error of false positives (assuming cultural influences when
there are not) can be equally costly as the Type II mistake of
false negatives (ignoring cultural influences that exist).
Without in-depth analyses, the presumed effects of cultural
differences may result in misplaced confidence in cultural
attributions. Thus, the decision whether to adopt
standardized or localized international marketing strategies
must be informed by rigorous tests with empirical data to
assess the effects of differences in cultural values and their
impact on people’s attitudes and behaviors across societies.
Given the increasing number of incidents of consumer
discontent in emerging market economies (Cui et al., 2008),
international marketers should not take their stated
satisfaction for granted. Nor can they presume that the level
of consumerism sentiment in these countries can be
attributed to cultural values such as collectivism. As the
legal infrastructure in these countries continues to evolve,
consumers will become more assertive about their rights.
They will follow the footsteps of consumers in advanced
economies and become more proactive in organized
consumer movement. Therefore, international marketers
should be vigilant in monitoring and handling consumer
complaints and providing quality goods and services.
Moreover, they need to work together with industry
associations, government agencies and consumer
associations to promote responsible marketing practices and
to protect the rights and interests of consumers.
Limitations and future directions
The decomposition approach in this study compares only two
countries from two different cultures across a limited number
of cultural values. The validity and effectiveness of the
proposed method for cross-cultural analyses should be tested
with data from other societies and cultural values. Moreover,
researchers should develop stronger theories as well as
meaningful explanations about cross-cultural differences.
Meanwhile, a major limitation of the decomposition
approach is that it does not incorporate the issues of
measurement and error invariance issues across groups, which
are beyond the scope of this study and nonetheless present a
fruitful avenue for future research.
Multinational corporations are constantly pulled between
the necessity for standardized and efficient operations and the
need to accommodate the local cultures. The merits of
standardized vs localization international marketing strategies
must be tempered by pretests with data from multiple country
markets. Therefore, the decomposition approach can be
applied to many issues in cross-cultural consumer research
and international marketing and business such as consumer
responses to advertising appeals and product designs,
employees’ perceptions of performance incentives and
managerial practices, and help investigators to assess the
role of cultural values when accounting for cross-national
differences. To inform the formulation of international
221
Differences in consumer attitudes toward marketing
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Geng Cui, Hon-Kwong Lui, Tsang-Sing Chan and Annamma Joy
Volume 29 · Number 3 · 2012 · 214 –224
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222
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Journal of Consumer Marketing
Geng Cui, Hon-Kwong Lui, Tsang-Sing Chan and Annamma Joy
Volume 29 · Number 3 · 2012 · 214 –224
About the authors
research undertaken and its results to get the full benefits of the
material present.
Geng Cui is Professor of Marketing and International Business
at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. His research interests
include the consumer market of China, international business
strategies, and data mining and applications of machine
learning in marketing. His works have appeared in journals
such as Journal of International Business Studies, Management
Science, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of
International Marketing, Journal of Macromarketing, and Journal
of World Business. He has been a consultant to private and
public organizations on business and marketing strategies in
China. Geng Cui is the corresponding author and can be
contacted at: [email protected]
Hon-Kwong Lui is Associate Professor of Marketing and
International Business at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. Dr
Lui’s research interests include labor economics, applied
marketing research, and the economy of Hong Kong. He is
the author of three books and has published articles in leading
and highly respected journals including Management Science,
Urban Studies, Human Relations, Economic Inquiry, and Journal
of International Marketing, among many others. His current
research focuses on the effects of public housing on income
distribution, internal mobility, and travel patterns.
Tsang-Sing Chan is Shun Hing Chair Professor of Marketing
and Associate Vice President at Lingnan University, Hong
Kong. He has published/edited 12 books and over 100 articles
and papers in the areas of international marketing channel
strategies, cross-cultural consumer behavior, joint venture
decisions, and marketing education. He serves on the editorial
board of five international journals. He is also Chair of the
Southeast Asia Chapter of the Academy of International
Business. He consults widely for corporations and government
agencies in Hong Kong and abroad in the areas of strategic
marketing planning, effective selling, leadership and human
relations, and intercultural communication.
Annamma Joy is Professor of Marketing in the Faculty of
Management at the University of British Columbia at
Okanagan, Canada. Before assuming her position in January
2008, she was Professor of Marketing at Concordia University
in Montreal. Her research interests are primarily in the area of
consumer behavior and branding with a special focus on
luxury brands, fashion brand experiences, consumer behavior
in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), aesthetic labor and
aesthetic consumption. She has published in consumer
behavior and marketing journals such as Journal of Consumer
Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, International Journal
of Research in Marketing, Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology,
Journal of Economic Psychology, and Consumption, Markets and
Culture. She served as Vice President of the Editorial Policy
Board of Journal of Consumer Research (2007-2008) as well as
on the Editorial Review Board of Journal of Consumer Research
(1991-2000). She currently serves on the editorial review
boards of Journal of Macro Marketing, Consumption, Markets
and Culture and Cornell Hospitality Quarterly.
Different studies have emphasized the significance of
consumer attitudes towards marketing (CATM). The issue
impacts on public policy and management strategies, while
attitude differences have added repercussions for
multinational corporations (MNCs). Such organizations
need to know whether to utilize standard or customized
approaches to marketing when entering new international
markets.
The stage of economic or consumerism development is
considered important by many researchers. However, some
contrasting findings have emerged in relation to these factors.
For instance, early studies found less negative attitudes
towards marketing among consumers in advanced economies.
The opposite has been indicated in more recent work, where
people in less developed nations showed greater positivity.
A response within the research community was to shift the
focus and argue that the stage of consumerism development
might better explain these attitude differences. Consumerism
in this context refers to the support for consumer rights and
protection of their interests, not encouragement of
consumption behavior. Following one study, a consumerism
development lifecycle model was proposed. A key premise
was that satisfaction would be higher among consumers in
countries where consumerism is more advanced. Other
scholars have found similar attitudes existed towards
marketing when comparing nations where consumerism
development is at different stages. In one instance,
consumers in Hong Kong were more positive about
marketing than counterparts in Australia and the US,
countries in much later stages of the consumerism
development cycle. Findings from several other studies cast
similar doubts about the model’s validity.
Given these indications, some scholars propose that cultural
values could be more influential. The rationale for this
argument is that consumers from individualistic nations like
Canada and the US may be inclined to express any
dissatisfaction. In contrast, the harmony that is valued in
China and other collectivist nations is likely to deter people
from making complaints about marketing. Variations in
CATM have been similarly attributed to ideological
differences such as idealism and relativism. A basic premise
is that a strong tendency towards idealism makes consumers
more critical and likelier to complain, whereas those with
higher levels of relativism are prone to “avoid extreme
actions” and consequently feel less negative about marketing.
Researchers often struggle to ascertain the precise impact of
cultural values across countries. They are commonly assumed
to explain behavioral differences, while culture is frequently
undermined when it is interchanged with nationality. Another
criticism is the tendency to make assumptions about the effect
of cultural values by ignoring other potentially significant
variables. Bias becomes likely as a result. One question that
emerges is whether “differences in cultural values or the
different effects of consumer values” between nations most
effectively explicates cross country variation in CATM.
Cui et al. argue that differences in consumer attitudes
towards marketing might be down to one or both of these
factors. They propose an “econometric decomposition
approach” that is appropriate for cross-cultural research
involving two or a few more countries. Most previous claims
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Differences in consumer attitudes toward marketing
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Geng Cui, Hon-Kwong Lui, Tsang-Sing Chan and Annamma Joy
Volume 29 · Number 3 · 2012 · 214 –224
have resulted from comparing countries which are studied
separately. This method has been successfully deployed to
compare differences between certain groups and different
approaches to decomposition analysis can be employed. The
authors use equations to illustrate its application. These
equations measure the “endowment effects” which reflect the
differences in the mean characteristics of the independent
variables across the countries being compared. In addition,
the “coefficient effects” shown in the equation refer to the
impact of cultural values.
Canada is used in the current study as a representative
western society, with China as its eastern counterpart. The
two are considered to differ in their degree of consumerism,
individualism, idealism and relativism. The authors create
and test several hypotheses relating to these factors.
The index for consumer sentiment toward marketing
(ICSM) scale was used as the survey instrument in the two
countries. It is a proven technique for measuring consumer
attitudes towards marketing mix variables product, retailing,
price and advertising. In Canada, the survey was conducted in
Toronto and Montreal and 500 usable responses were
obtained. The sample in China consisted of 800 completed
questionnaires obtained in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai,
Guangzhou and Chengdu.
From the various analyses performed, Cui et al. note that
considerable differences exist between the two nations with
regard to CATM and the average values of socio-cultural
factors. In particular:
.
CATM in the Canadian sample is negatively affected by
consumerism sentiment and idealism;
.
idealism positively impacts on CATM of consumers in
China, though consumerism has no significant effect; and
.
decomposition indicated that only idealism has a
“meaningful role” in explaining CATM differences
between Canadian and Chinese consumers.
Findings relating to idealism are not considered surprising,
given its impact in both countries is strong, albeit in opposite
directions. One possibility is that “long-term indoctrination”
and the legacy of communist rule may have engendered some
reluctance among Chinese consumers to complain about
unsuitable marketing practices. That anticipated effects of
consumerism sentiment and individualism/collectivism did
not materialize illustrates that not all variables impact on
CATM differences between countries.
Given the evident complexity of identifying factors which
explain these differences, thorough simultaneous testing of
“competing propositions” is strongly recommended.
Decomposition can help ascertain if and how specific
cultural differences and/or the different effects of cultural
values clarify CATM variations. In-depth analysis is vital for
proper understanding of the effects of cultural differences.
The current propensity is simply to assume that these
differences influence consumer attitudes and behaviors
without any real knowledge of how.
Cui et al. warn international marketers not to assume that
consumers in emerging markets will be content. They claim
that consumers in such nations will become increasingly
“assertive about their rights” as legal infrastructures grow
more sophisticated. Organized consumer movements could
well emerge as a result. Marketers should therefore ensure
that products and service are of high quality, while customer
complaints must be properly handled. Responsible marketing
practices are also essential and some liaison with industry
associations, government bodies and consumer groups will be
necessary to guarantee such requirements are met.
A decomposition approach could be used to test data from
other nations and cultural value systems. The authors likewise
propose applying the method to different issues of crosscultural consumer studies including consumer responses to
advertising and product designs or employee perception of
performance enticements and managerial practices.
These results led the authors to conclude that:
.
different cross-country effects can emerge from the same
cultural value; and
.
CATM variations cannot alone be explained by
differences in cultural values between these two countries.
(A précis of the article “Decomposition of cross-country differences
in consumer attitudes toward marketing”. Supplied by Marketing
Consultants for Emerald.)
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